Protagen AG, Dortmund, and the Neuried, Germany, based diagnostics company Mikrogen GmbH, announced today the closing of a collaboration agreement for the identification of typical autoantibody signatures in infectious diseases.

"Also classical infectious disease diagnostics can benefit from UNIarray®, the proprietary technology platform of Protagen for the determination of indication specific autoantibody signatures in serum. Within the scope of a mutual feasibility study performed with Mikrogen, we were able to show that infection specific reactions of the immune system are accompanied by the generation of specific autoantibodies which are very useful for diagnostic developments" states Dr. Peter Schulz-Knappe, CSO and Executive Vice President Diagnostics.

"The cooperation with Protagen secures Mikrogen the access to an important and novel technology platform. Our aim is the jointly development and marketing of characteristic marker panels for differential diagnosis of relevant infectious diseases", says Dr. Erwin Soutschek, Co-founder and Managing Director of Mikrogen GmbH.

About Protagen AG

Protagen AG (www.protagen.de) is an international leading specialist in the fields of in vitro diagnostics and GMP-compliant protein analysis. The innovations of Protagen are UNIarray®, a technology platform for the development of novel serum based diagnostics, as well as UNIchip®, a versatile product family of protein microarrays for faster development of antibodies.

About Mikrogen GmbH

Mikrogen belongs to world top specialists for the development of test systems and devices based on recombinant antigens. Since 1989 the company successfully produces high quality antigens and test systems for clinical diagnostics. Mikrogen's scope of business covers the development, production and distribution of genetically engineered in vitro diagnostics. The company focuses on the serology of bacterial, viral and parasitic infections as well as on autoimmune diseases.

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